China wants to join hands with India to maintain security of the Indian Ocean

In an interesting official statement by the Deputy Chief of General Office of China’s SSF, it’s been revealed that China’s Navy wants to join hands with India to maintain the security of the Indian Ocean.

“It is my opinion China and India can make joint contributions to the safety and security of the Indian Ocean,” said Capt Liang Tianjun, the Deputy Chief.

This remark came in between of growing concerns in New Delhi over the increasing presence of the PLA fleet in India’s backyard and Indo-China Dokhlam standoff.

Opening up to a group of Indian Journalists for the first time, People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) officials say the Indian Ocean is a common place for the international community.

Tianjun tried to defend Chinese army by terming them to be ‘defensive’ rather than being ‘aggressive’.
However, he was quick to make it clear that China would never “intrude into other countries” but would also not “be obstructed by other countries“.

“All my major weapons are not toys,” he said as he gave a guided tour of the sophisticated frigate which was commissioned in 2010.

When asked about the challenges faced by the PLAN in the South China Sea, especially from the US Navy, commanding officer of Yulin Capt Hu Luyang was quick enough to term it as okay for the American navy to patrol the area in the international waters.

“However, if they encroach upon Chinese maritime areas, we will not tolerate such behaviour,” he added.

His comments came amidst reports from Washington that a US Navy destroyer carried out a “freedom of navigation operation” yesterday, coming within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea.

The Indian Government hasn’t made released any statement regarding this recent developments and it would be interesting to see how India is going to react amidst the Dokhlam standoff.